Education remains a key element of Animal Umbrella's
mission as a humane organization. By sensitizing the public on animal
welfare issues we try to reduce the suffering of abandoned animals
roaming in the streets.

We respond every year, to thousands of calls asking
for help to rescue homeless animals who are either injured or starving.
Whenever possible we try to send volunteers to help. However, since our
resources are very limited we have been helping more and more people
statewide by convincing them to help the animals themselves with Animal
Umbrella's counseling. Some of the counseling includes advice on:

Feeding and sheltering an animal

Trapping it and bringing it to our shelter in case
of injury or serious illness

Fostering it in a basement, garage or other places
where it can be kept warm until we are able to take it in our
shelter.

Socializing it if it is a feral cat or kitten and
someone wishes to adopt it

Spaying/neutering and releasing in an area where
the animal lover will continue to feed and shelter the cat(s)

Many animals have been saved because we have
encouraged people to have compassion and feel responsible for their
lives. People need to be told that helping strays is the right thing to
do. We are a civilized society, letting an animal suffer or die simply
because it does not belong to anyone is cruel. It is time for all of us
to take more accountability into our lives-it will make us feel better
to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Annamarie Taylor

A Boy's Cat Rescue Story

An
old, emaciated cat was seen wandering the grounds of a Newton school
during a cold October day. The pooer animal tried to get inside
attracted by the food smell coming from the cafeteria. A boy, son of an
Animal Umbrella supporter sighted the cat and called his mother for
help. The woman called the local dog officer but was told not to feed
the cat because it would go away as if probably belonged to someone in
the area.

The condition of the cat convinced the woman that the
poor animal was a stray. A call was placed with Animal Umbrella seeking
advice on what to do. We suggested to the woman not to touch the cat but
to attract the inside a carrier with some food. When the woman and her
son returned to the area, the cat which was later on called Brownie was
gone. We recommended to them to continue the search cause sooner or
later the cat would try to get into the building again to keep warm and
try to find some food.

Back to school the following day, David, the young
animal lover continued his search and did not want anyone else in the
school to try to rescue the cat. Brownie reappeared and this time David
was able to catch her. We asked David and his mother to take Brownie a
very sweet cat to the Natick Animal Clinic for immediate care. They
found her to be severely dehydrated and extremely thin. She was quite
old. After a few days at the hospital, Brownie seemed to improve and
David and his mother took her back to their home. Unfortunately, the
ordeal had taken a very severe toll on Brownie's health and she died two
days later. This is a very sad story we wanted to share with you.
Whoever abandoned this loving cat was cruel and inconsiderate since
because of her age she could not cope with cold and hunger.

The positive note about this story is that two animal
lovers, a mother and her son, felt accountable for a poor homeless cat
and made an effort to rescue it, defying other people's indifference and
inaction. David taught the lesson to his school mates that you are never
too young to start to care and have compassion for defenseless animals.
We hope they learned.